Testing PDF production

Availability

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2021.1]

How to test PDF production

There are two ways to access the "Test PDF" function:

1. directly from the Form Builder's main window's "Test" menu

2. from the "Test Form" window

The "Test" menu

When accessed directly, "Test PDF" shows the following dialog:

The "Test PDF Production" dialog

When accessed from the "Test Form" window, "Test PDF" shows the following dialog:

The "Test PDF Production" dialog

You have access to the following options:

• Use entered form data

  • This option only shows when accessed from the "Test Form" window.

  • When selected, any data currently entered in the form will be used to produce the PDF.

• Disable the evaluation of "Initial Values" formulas

  • If "Use entered form data" is selected, this option is disabled as the form data takes precedence.

  • When selected, all "Initial Value" formulas are disabled, as if they were not present.

• Disable the evaluation of "Initial Values" formulas

  • When selected, all "Initial Value" formulas are disabled, as if they were not present.

• Disable the evaluation of "Calculated Values" formulas

  • When selected, all "Calculated Value" formulas are disabled, as if they were not present.

• Show controls, grids, and sections with dynamic visibility

  • When selected, all controls, grids, and sections that can be dynamically shown are shown.

  • This means that those with visibility "Yes" or "Formula" are always shown. Controls with visibility "No" remain not visible.

  • Use cases include:

    • Verifying that every control, grid, or section that can appear in the PDF appears correctly.

    • Exporting the PDF file for printing and manual filling.

• Use PDF template

  • This only shows if the form has attached PDF templates.

  • See below for details.

Selecting "Continue" opens the resulting PDF, which will show in your browser window.

PDF templates

The "Test PDF" dialog lets you choose between the automatic PDF or one of the available PDF templates when testing.

Selecting a PDF template for PDF testing

Showing hints and alerts

[SINCE Orbeon Forms 2023.1]

Two options allow you to show controls hints and alerts in the resulting PDF:

Options to show hints, alerts, and required

This is an example of the resulting PDF with hints and alerts:

PDF output with alerts and hints

See also The open-rendered-format() action.

See also

• Blog post: Testing PDF production in Form Builder

• PDF Production

• Automatic PDF

• PDF templates

• The open-rendered-format() action